#ginmo

@ginmo said: I get what you're saying and I'm 50/50 on the Harry as a teacher thing, like I really don't care what profession JKR would have given him because I see value is each, but the boundaries and culture you're attributing to the profession in the real world is not necessarily there in the magical world (and I'm a teacher -high school- too lol I didn't expect to see a lot of teachers on here!)

Haha, hi fellow teacher! (I have different conditions tbh, I teach in a French Institute which is more like a...private language school? Sort of? Vastly different from teachers in the national education network of France, at any rate)

Honestly, I disagree with the idea that Hogwarts would be freed from the limitations that exist in muggle schools.

After all, Albus Dumbledore was a very influential person, and even he couldn’t prevent his own firing (courtesy of Lucius Malfoy and some kind of parents council or whatever else in COS) Dolores Umbridge’s presence in OotP, or Lupin’s firing due to prejudice in PoA. True, those were in the specific context of mounting fascism in the magical world and Dumbles was a very flawed person, but still.

Plus, while we don’t know for sure whether Hogwarts is a private or a public school (or in any case, the knowledge escapes me) it is, as far as the books state, the only wizarding school in GB, so you bet your butt people are going to keep an eye on it and demands are going to be made.

If Dumbledore couldn’t make the school into its own little kingdom, I highly doubt later headmasters/headmistresses will manage it, even if I have every confidence that some of them will work their hardest to make things better.

@rahakasha said: I always thought that if he did any teaching it would be tutoring - weekends/summer for Hogwarts students or perhaps home tutoring for non-Hogwarts students. He'd be able to set his own schedule, location, terms (if contracts are needed), and so on.

(Sorry, the @ feature didn’t want to work for your url :/)

It is a possibility indeed, and there would be more leeway there (plus of course creative license since there’s no canon about that option). However, even when privately arranging with a family, you are not free to do whatever you want—they are your clients, you’re their employees, and you’re forced to compose with them and their demands, whether you think they’re reasonable or not.

(For ex : If a parent says they want their kids to have four hours of class every Saturday morning with you, it’s delicate to refuse, first because they might not accept or appreciate your attempt to influence their kid’s education, and second because you might lose a client and you sort of do need them for a living)

Plus, from what I’ve seen and experienced, people who ‘buy’ lessons for their kids tend to treat said lessons as a product. They often want visible results as soon as possible because, well, they don’t always want/have the ability to pay for too many hours in the long run. This is actually very frustrating for teachers, especially when the expectations for results fail to take into account the realities of teaching and learning.

(To be fair, most of it is born of a lack of education to the topic, but it doesn’t make things any more agreeable for the teachers involved).

@crocordile​ said: Hogwarts is so different from a regular school, I really feel like Harry would have much more ground to make a positive impact on children who need support - because they're being bullied or anything of the sort....  with minerva as principal moreover it'd be a very different things, they could work together and do so much...                     In this job, he'd BE the authority, only minerva above him, Btw I don't mean to come onto your post and annoy you sagvdbhfrgnjsd just exposing why some of us don't find it hateful even if we are teachers ourselves dealing with the terrible aspects of our profession :S I'm positive most people with that headcanon see harry as a solution to the problems you bring up, rather than being caught in them, etc

(Frankly, I disagree on the idea that it’s that different from a regular school. The topics and building are different but it didn’t seem to me like the pedagogy or lessons structures were that different from things I’ve seen or experienced as a student or during my nine months of working in Scotland. Hogwarts, to me, seems fairly modeled on the UK’s schol system, but I might be wrong.)

I mean, yes, he’d have power to turn his classroom into a better environment, but changing the school would be dependent on his colleagues’ and superiors’ active cooperation, which is never a guarantee. Plus, even with his hierarchy’s full support, McGonagall (or any other headmistress/headmaster) isn’t above the law or the various institutions meant to control Hogwarts, and war prestige only gets you so far (see my response above about external influences on the school life during Harry’s years).

Like, yes, Harry could make a positive impact as a teacher, but it would still be delayed no matter how you cut it, which I really, really can’t picture him being okay with.

Also, you mention bullying but what about the abuse that happens at home? What about students who are too poor to afford proper living conditions outside Hogwarts? As a teacher, he’d do what he can but I doubt he’d be able to offer much in terms of practical, immediate solution (let alone solutions he could have control on).

Of course, the job of Auror comes with its own trappings in that respect because he wouldn’t be on the field 24/7 and there would probably be a TON of paperwork, but at least with every job finished he’d know for a fact that he had a real, measurable influence on making the world a better place, which I honestly think he needs to see.

(Hogwarts, while an important place, isn’t the world, after all, and I’m not sure Harry would feel satisfied to limit himself to such a small microcosm without even being able to address the causes of his students’ distress)

That being said, don’t worry, I wasn’t annoyed by your intervention :D

Like I said at the start of the post, while I have a visceral dislike for the idea I don’t mind that not everyone shares my opinion I just...avoid entering the debate with staunch proponents of it? Mostly because I know I’d get irritated and snippy and that wouldn’t be interesting for anyone involved, honestly.